darkandrew

Oooh, I like that one!

Going further down the page in guitar territory, I like the sand blasted finish that they've got on some of their guitars - it really brings the grain out.

I'm not too keen on the "metal" types (I think they are called "F" series) but the "TL" basses look interesting - I'd be interested in giving one a go.

Just got this emailed to me from ESP - this is "phase 2" of their 2020 product launch and unlike "phase 1" includes 2 or 3 basses this time. https://www.espguitars.com/pages/2020-product-preview-2/ What do you think? Anything here tickle your fancy?

I was listening to Simple Minds Live in the City of Light a few days ago and on it is a medley featuring Simple Minds' "Love Song" and a cover of "Sun City". As I was listening to it, it struck me that many (if not most) protest songs are very much rooted to a particular moment in time and lose their relevance outside of that moment. So, I was thinking, are there any protest songs that still hold up outside if their particular moment? Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" and Peter Gabriel's "Biko" came to mind but other than these two, I couldn't really think of any others - can you?

No, it's because you've got 1 too many strings - even p!ssed-up punters know that a bass should only ever have 4 strings.

Many of my basses and guitars were purchased from forum members here, and therefore do not come with an official receipt. I have been told by other insurers that I need an independent, official valuation to value the bass (or other instrument) in this instance for insurance purposes otherwise they would not pay out on any future claim. Do you insist on an independent valuation? If not, what proof of ownership and value do you require?

I'd never realised he'd played on Kirsty MacColl's "A New England" - they play it quite often on the radio, and although I love the song, I've never really listened to the bassline. Time for another listen then.

He played and co-wrote on "1234" and was credited on the remix album "Wishful Thinking" as both he and Brian McGee were part of the live band at the time (McGee had replaced Steve Jansen by that point), however he is not credited on and didn't play on "A Secret Wish", their first and most successful album - the bass parts on which were either synthesized, sampled or played by Stephen Lipson, although he was part of the live band at the time of its release.

Branching off from another thread, apart from a one-off track on the Billy Currie / Steve Howe album "Transportation", the Propaganda album "1234" and a couple of XSM singles "The American" and "Outsider", has Derek Forbes recorded anything else outside of Simple Minds?

****now branched off in its own thread**** Apart from this, the album he did with Propaganda ("1234") and the XSM single (I think it was called "Outsider"), are there any other post Simple Minds recordings on which he plays? ****now branched off as a new thread****

There's also a song, an instrumental piece, that he did with Billy Currie of Ultravox called India which showcases his style of bass playing perfectly.

I was just going to nominate that one myself.

Thanks for all of your advice guys - as usual, your insight is valued and appreciated.

I have had my concerns about my son for a while but today he finally came out with it and announced that he wants to play guitar 😮 . Not the wholesome 4 string or funky 5 string sort, no, he wants to play the other sort, the one with 6 strings! So, having got over the initial shock (and I must be honest, disappointment) I'm now thinking that I should support him in his choice and am looking at possibly buying something for him for Christmas. He is a fairly small (ie. not the longest arms or biggest hands) 8 year old and so I'm not sure whether to consider a 3/4 length guitar to get him started or go straight in with a 24.75" Gibson type scale - my thinking is that while he might find the 3/4 length easier to play at first, he will have trouble transitioning to a full scale guitar later and would be better off learning on the full scale to begin with. What are your thoughts?

Or we could just spend the next three and a half years arguing about what sort of light bulb we want ...

Is the lightbulb any good for metal and how much will it cost to post it to Outer Mongolia please?

Our Derek does love a good single-note bassline. Here he is with another (at least 90% of this one is "D" I think).

The £3k price tag was a bit of a surprise, but before I saw that I was impressed with the demos I'd seen and still am. Maybe it's worth the £3k - there's no doubting it will be more accessible than the Kurzweil but I'm still finding the price tag a bit hard to swallow. Maybe if I am going to update my Kurzweil, I'll start to have a look around for second hand Motifs, maybe that would be a more cost effective option.

An ad for the most recent update to the Roland Fantom range of workstation keyboards caught my eye the other day so I thought I'd find out a bit more about it, after all my trusty Kurzweil PC361 must be about 10 years old by now. So I looked it up and the first thing that struck me was the £3k price - where did that come from? With most consumer electronics having actually reduced in price over the last decade I was somewhat surprised by that price tag, I think my Kurzweil was quite a bit less than £1500 when I bought it. Now, I know the latest Fantom does a lot more than my old Kurzweil, but if you take away the built-in DAW functions (that I already have on my computer anyway - and would I want to be using a keyboard with its built-in screen as a DAW?) not that much more! For the time being, I think I'm going to be sticking with my old Kurzweil. Does anyone else think £3k is a bit steep or has anyone here actually used one and can say it's worth every penny?

Nearly bought a Vigier bass from Derek Forbes. Put a bid on it, went on holiday, and someone (from here I beleive) put a higher bid in and outbid me. Never mind, I had a good holiday anyway.

That was my first bass! I ordered it in black and to be honest it was actually playable. The amp, on the other hand, was the same one as came with the guitars and was next to useless.

I'm not particularly familiar with Ms Vicky's work, I'll be back after a quick Google ... Ok, apparently "her 30-minute act began with bunting and flowers being extracted from her nether regions, then ping pong balls, sausages and eggs before a finale of a string of razor blades, a bottle and a glowing light bulb." Makes dear old Iggy sound like an amateur!

Blimey, you wouldn't want to buy a used bass off them .... but having said that, at least it wouldn't have any buckle rash on the back.

As opposed to "show us your rug" ...